WBB12/14/2017 9:55 AM | By: Cal Athletics
Cal Hosts BYU In Non-Conference Home Finale
BERKELEY – The Cal women's basketball team will play its final home game of the non-conference campaign on Saturday, hosting BYU at 5 p.m. at Haas Pavilion. The Golden Bears (7-2, 0-0 Pac-12) enter the matchup on a four-game winning streak while the Cougars (4-5, 0-0 WCC) are coming off a nine-point win over Utah last Saturday.
The matchup between the Bears and Cougars will be the second leg of a double-header at Haas Pavilion on Saturday. The Cal men's basketball team hosts Cal State Fullerton at 1 p.m. PT, followed by the women's game at 5 p.m. Tickets purchased for the women's game can be presented to the box office for admission to the men's basketball game and vice versa. The associate head coach for the Titans is John Smith, father of Cal freshman point guard Kianna Smith, while her older brother, Jamal, is the starting point guard for Cal State Fullerton.
Saturday's game will be the fourth meeting all-time between Cal and BYU, and the Bears' fourth consecutive game against a West Coast Conference foe. Cal is 4-0 against the WCC this season, opening the year with an 87-80 victory over Saint Mary's before rattling off wins over Santa Clara, San Diego, and Pacific.
Junior forward/center Kristine Anigwe led the Bears with 28 points and 18 rebounds on Sunday at Pacific, while senior Penina Davidson also registered a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Anigwe, who leads the Pac-12 in both scoring (18.7 points per game) and rebounding (8.8 rebounds per game), was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for her efforts, averaging 27 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in Cal's wins over San Diego and Pacific. Anigwe is averaging nearly a point per minute over Cal's last four games (96 points in 104 minutes), and was the first only player in Division I basketball with 18 or more rebounds in multiple games this season.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Saturday's game against the Cougars will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Network, with Mary Murphy and J.B. Long on the call. Live stats and a live stream will also be available, along with additional updates and behind-the-scenes information on the Bears social media accounts (Twitter: @CalWBBall, Instagram: @CalWBBall).
LAST TIME OUT
The Cal women's basketball team made it four wins in a row, riding another impressive offensive performance to a 92-85 victory over Pacific on Sunday afternoon at the Alex G. Spanos Center. Junior forward /center Kristine Anigwe matched her season high with 28 points and added 18 rebounds for her second double-double of the season while senior Penina Davidson had a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for her team-leading third double-double of the year.
Mikayla Cowling (15 points) and Kianna Smith (12 points) also scored in double-figures as Cal tallied a season-high 92 points, 60 of which came in the paint.
With the win, extends its winning streak to four in a row, the team's longest winning streak of the season and Cal's longest since going 13-0 to start the 2016-17 campaign. The Golden Bears have now won their last three games on the road and improve to 3-1 this season away from home. Cal's three-game road winning streak is tied for Cal's longest road winning streak over the last three seasons.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
BYU enters the game coming off a 77-68 win over in-state rival Utah, which snapped a four-game losing streak for the Cougars. Senior guard Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee led all scorers with a career-high 36 points, including a 18-22 performance from the foul line, while graduate transfer Malia Nawahine 13 points and six rebounds in the victory.
Devashrayee, a 5'9" guard from Glenville, New York, was the 2016-17 WCC Player of the Year and is currently tied for 14th in the nation in scoring, averaging 21.6 points per game this season. Sophomore guard Brenna Chase is second on the team in scoring at 13.1 points per game while Nawahine, a transfer from Utah, is averaging 10.0 points per game while shooting a team-high 36.1 percent from beyond the arc.
The Cougars opened the 2017-18 season 3-1 before suffering a streak of four consecutive losses, including an overtime defeat at Northern Colorado on November 30. Overall, all but one of BYU's losses this season has been single-digits. Cal will be the third Pac-12 opponent the Cougars have faced this season, falling at Washington on November 15 before Saturday's win over Utah.
Head coach Jeff Judkins is in his 17th season at BYU and returns two starters and six letterwinners from last season's squad that went 20-12, finishing tied for second in the WCC. The Cougars were picked to finish third in the 2017-18 WCC Preseason Coaches Poll.
UP NEXT
The Bears will hit the road for their final game of the non-conference campaign, visiting Kentucky on December 21. The game against the Wildcats will tipoff at a 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT and will be broadcast live on the SEC Network. Kentucky (8-3, 0-0 SEC) has been ranked as high as No. 20 in the AP Poll this season and has reached at least the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament each of the last eight years. This will be the first meeting between the Wildcats and Golden Bears.
2017-18 TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW
Season, group and single-game tickets for the 2017-18 women's basketball season are now on sale. Season tickets start as low as $40 ($2.67 per game, 15 games) for youth and seniors and $80 ($5.33 per game, 15 games) for adult general admission tickets. Single-game tickets are available starting at $4 for youth and seniors and $5 for adults, while flex and partial plans are also available purchase. For more information, call the Gold Standard Sales and Service line at (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) or visit the CalBears.com ticket page.
JOIN THE JOURNEY: THE RETURN OF THISISCALBASKETBALL.COM
Cal's one-of-a-kind multimedia fan site, ThisIsCalBasketball.com, is back for its seventh season and once again features an unprecedented look into the inner workings of the personalities behind the Cal women's basketball's roster. Visitors to ThisIsCalBasketball.com can get an in-depth look at the personalities behind the jerseys, from action and portrait photos to bio videos and conversations between current players and alumnae.
STAY POSTED
Keep up-to-date on the latest Cal women's basketball news by following the Bears on social media. View behind-the-scenes photos and videos and learn more about Cal and its student-athletes on Twitter (@CalWBball), Instagram (@CalWBball) and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalWBball).
